Choctawhatchee Bay

I finished piecing the Disappearing Four Patch top using all dragonfly fabrics. I've only been able to sew while the air conditioning is running. It's just too hot in my little quilt room otherwise, and waaaaaay too hot if I'm using the iron!

The top is 42"x42", which is a great size for a baby quilt. Unfortunately, I had it in my mind to give it to an adult friend. Hmm. I'm going to set it aside for a while and think about whether I want to expand it or not. I could certainly add borders, which would keep it square. Or I could add top and bottom rows of something fun like pieced bird blocks. Or, I could go a completely different direction for my friend's quilt and donate this one to Project Linus.

Linking up with Oh, Scrap because every fabric is different. I bought them as a group of precut 4.5" squares, but it's clear they were never part of a single fabric line. They were carefully collected by someone with a love for dragonflies. That eclecticness gives the piece a nice, scrappy look.

Waiting for Colin

We are sitting in a marina in St. Marks, FL while Tropical Storm Colin creeps up on us. Meanwhile, I have a batch of dragonfly fabric squares that I'm sewing into Disappearing Four Patch blocks.

Start with a four patch:

Slice it into nine pieces:

Rotate every piece except the corners 180 degrees:

Sew them back together:

I bought these squares of dragonflies as a precut collection on eBay. The seller clearly had been gathering the fabrics for years. There were 72 squares in every color of the rainbow, each with at least one dragonfly showing. I'm thinking I'll probably assemble them in rainbow order to give the finished quilt some cohesion.

The Disappearing Four Patch block shows its structure best when there is some contrast between the two non-background squares. In this one, there is enough difference between the light blue and the medium blue to show how the squares sort of overlap in the center of the block:

However, in order to put the finished quilt in rainbow order, I need to have blocks where the two focal fabrics are close to each other on the color wheel. That way the finished block will have a clear place in the rainbow. Two green fabrics make a green block, but where would a purple/yellow block go?

I spent quite a bit of time going back and forth between wanting to punch up the contrast in each block and wanting to make sure the finished quilt wouldn't just muddle into color chaos. I'm not sure I made the right choice yet!

The tricky part of this block turns out to be how to iron the seams. There are lots of little junctions between the white background and the various colors of fabric. In order to keep those corners crisp, it's best to nest the seams at every stage of sewing. That includes the stage where each block is sewn to another block.

There are two layouts for joining the blocks together. Alternating the larger white and focal fabric squares looks like this:

Rotating two of those block so that all the focal corners (and then all the white corners) meet up looks like this:

I haven't decided which layout I want to use, and I want the seams to nest between blocks no matter what I choose. Hmm. Topologically, that doesn't really work out well! After a lot of head scratching, middle-of-the-night pondering, and failed sample blocks, I came up with a solution. Here's the back of a block:

It turns out that if all the outside seams are pressed so that they rotate in one direction, any block layout will have nested seams at all the intersections. Hooray! In the photo above, the seams on the side with the yellow pencil are all pressed upward. The ones on the side with the brown pencil all go left. Opposite the yellow pencil they go down, and opposite the brown pencil they go right. So the seams flow around the back of the block counter clockwise.

That sounds good, but as you can see it actually looks a bit ugly. I was able to open three of the intersections and "swirl" the seams into submission, but two places still just had to get squashed down strangely. Fortunately, the fronts of the blocks look okay and I've been pretty happy with my points.

It's all too easy to start sewing things in a slightly different order and end up with a block where the final seams flow clockwise instead. So I have to force myself to only assemble two blocks at a time, laying all the pieces out carefully in a particular order at each stage and not jumping ahead.

I'm about half way through making the blocks. Next time I should have some layout photos to share.

St Petersburg, FL

When I started this post, I was in St. Petersburg. My fabric is still there, but I am not, alas. We rented a car and drove 14 hours to Lottsburg, VA where our old motorhome is stored. We sold it on eBay and now we're cleaning it up and fixing a few things to get it ready for the buyer.

The whole process has been full of glitches, but that's a story for our travel blog.

Before I left town, I got a few quilty things done, though. I finished this quilt top, using some of the fabric that arrived in my my latest batch of mail. The pattern is called "Movement in Squares," written by the lovely Wendy Sheppard. It's available for free from Benartex.

The pattern is well-written, easy to follow, and went together pretty quickly. It finished at 54" x 62" and will be a gift for a friend who is struggling with health issues. I have enough of the turquoise polka dot for the entire back.

I did modify the pattern a little so that all the non-black rectangles and squares are different fabrics. That allowed me to use fat quarters, since each color was then less than a quarter yard. I also calculated whether the pattern could be made with a jelly roll instead of yardage, and it could if there were at least two duplicated strips in the roll.

I also finished binding this gift quilt. It needs a trip through the washing machine and we'll see if/how it crinkles up with cotton on the front and fleece on the back. 

These blocks were sent to Covered in Love for Kat's May block drive. She asked for a soft palette of grays, blues and yellows. I didn't have a lot in my scraps, but managed to squeak out two blocks. The finished quilts should be gorgeous!

Over on Red Letter Quilts, I won the drawing for a copy of the new Crafted Applique book by Lara Buccella. I had already purchased an electronic copy of the book, and Lara graciously refunded my money in lieu of sending me another book. I'm quite excited about trying this new applique method, which uses Modge Podge to keep the raw edges from fraying. Thank you Heidi and Lara for offering the book giveaway!

We have been living in the motorhome for several days, and remembering all the things we like and dislike about it. I didn't start quilting until we moved onto the boat. There's so much less space on the motorhome, so my hat is off to those who sew in RVs. Claudia, I don't know how you manage!

It doesn't take any extra space to think and dream and plan, though, so I've been doing quite a bit of that while away from my studio. We found out that a dear friend is retiring at the end of the year, so I've been looking through patterns and researching colors for her quilt. And the Hands2Help charity drive ended this week, and it's been fun to look through all the finished quilts that are being donated. Scroll down to the bottom of this post to see the wonderful variety.

Hands 2 Help quilts finished

This week marks the end of the Hands 2 Help Charity Challenge.  Sarah has been herding cats for a couple weeks, keeping all us quilters on track to make and donate our quilts. Each year, she selects several charities to receive the bounty. I was so happy to see that Covered in Love was chosen as one of them, and my two quilts will be shipped off to Kat soon.

My two finished quilts are Bright Bento and Scrappy Chili Peppers. They are destined to be given to a person who is receiving end of life care in a hospital. I hope they brighten up the room a little bit during such a sad time.

Kat says the chaplains at the hospital help choose a quilt from their small supply. She has heard many stories of how a quilt can really resonate with the recipient and their family...perhaps because it is in a favorite color, or features fabrics that reflect of love of gardening or bird watching, etc. I'm honored to contribute to a pool of quilts as diverse as the families that will take them home.

The back of Bright Bento used up most of these sweet prints in soft baby blues and pinks. They coordinate surprisingly well with the vibrant Rowan fabrics on the front.

A close up to show some of the crinkly texture after washing. I wasn't sure I'd be able to get this one washed in time to meet the shipping deadline. Kat offered to wash it at her end if necessary. Using the washer and dryer on board the boat requires careful planning. The washer uses a large percentage of our available water, so it's best if we're at a dock where we can refill the tank from a spigot. Since we ended up spending one night in the water at the boatyard, I washed it quickly and then hung it to dry in the engine room. It's nice and toasty in there.

I didn't realize until I started taking photos of them together that they aren't the same size. No wonder it took so much longer to quilt Bright Bento. I also thought it would be calm this morning, but they flapped around so much even on the protected back deck that I was getting nervous they would take flight across the water. Quilts sinking slowly to the bottom of the Manatee River won't help anyone!

It was a real pleasure making these two quilts and I'll definitely participate in Hands2Help again next year. A big thank you to Sarah for coordinating the Challenge!

Largo, FL

Today I visited a quilt shop, Keep Me In Stitches in Largo. It is primarily a Bernina and Baby Lock dealer but had a small selection of fabrics in bright, saturated colors. I saw Cotton&Steel, Kaffe/Rowan prints, batiks, and some great blenders. The staff was very friendly and the shop sported some nice class room space. Everything is shiny brand new, having only opened about a year ago.

I bought four fat quarters. After my big eBay haul last week, I don't really need anything. However, I want to support bricks and mortar stores when I can and I enjoy seeing and touching the fabrics in person. I try to buy at least one fat quarter, so I close my eyes and pretend I'm not paying five times more than I would normally.

The second fabric from the bottom with the polka dots is Cotton&Steel. I've heard a lot about this fabric line so it was interesting to see it "live." The dots are metallic silver and it's very high quality. While I love this teal/peacock color, the rest of the colors in the line didn't wow me, so that's good to know. It's really hard to get true color representation of fabrics through a computer screen. 

The flip flops are bright and cheerful and will serve as a souvenir of this shop. Florida is definitely a flip flop kind of place.

I always ask permission before taking photos inside a store. I've seen signs in some quilt shops that prohibit taking pictures of the sample quilts, maybe to keep them from being copied. This photo shows about 80% of the fabric; there's just a little more behind the wall on the right. Love those bright colors! There were also notions on that wall, and you can see the thread display behind the little stool. 

Stash overload

The boat is still in the yard and I'm away from my sewing machine while we stay with friends in their guest room. I miss sewing! I've been filling my time by taking an online Craftsy class, "Playing with Curves." It is taught by Ann Petersen and is a great introduction to curved piecing. As a bonus, she also teaches paper piecing using freezer paper. The first time I tried convention PP, I didn't care for it, but the freezer paper method looks much easier.

Our friends have been very generous by letting us stay in their home, even letting our cat Angel stay. Angel is a bit freaked out, going from the compact space of a boat to an enormous three bedroom, three level, four bath house. But she loves her Aunt Karen and Uncle Benjamin, so she's relaxing more each day.

We are taking advantage of Ben and Karen's non-mobile home and its fixed address to have packages delivered. Apparently I had deadly package build-up at our mail forwarding service, because 21 POUNDS of fabric arrived the other day.

There's gold in them thar boxes! The fabric actually arrived in about six different, smaller boxes and I've consolidated it into these two, packed absolutely full. 

I've used up most of my larger pieces of fabric on backings for my latest quilt finishes. Ideally, a backing is a single piece of fabric but I usually use several large-ish pieces sewn together. The Brewski beer quilt, however, used dozens of small scraps. While I like a scrappy back, it does take quite a bit of time and effort, and I'd rather put all that mental math into the front.

So I went eBay shopping for backings, and was pleased to find 3.5 yards of this cute red and white heart fabric. There are also 2-3 yards of the maroon pin dot, although that one is more sheer than I expected. I'll probably use it for low-volume patchwork on the fronts instead of a backing.

A few more larger pieces, found a rock bottom prices. The swirly turquoise will be useful in all kinds of kids' quilts; it's such a great, gender neutral color. The bottom piece is a smooth quilting cotton with a print that looks like burlap. The fabric line is called "Cool Weave." I thought that looked sort of interesting as a blender, so I started searching for it.

I came across an eBay seller who had a number of Cool Weave colors at $0.99 for a half yard, so I snapped those up. They are the bottom two in this photo, mint and medium blue. Since I was already paying for the shipping, I added a few other blenders into my order. 

Then my Cool Weave search hit the Mother Lode. 15 colors, one yard of each, for $15. Yeah, baby! I always need bright blenders, so this is a perfect stash addition. Those browns and tans are quite useful, too. I have some super cute forest animal fabrics featuring foxes and owls, and the woodsy neutrals will work great with those.

This grouping of chicken fabrics was just too fun to pass up. Which came first? The chicken? The baby chicken? The fried egg? Or the drumstick? I'll mix these with royal blue for a primary colors quilt. Half yard of each, plenty for a Project Linus quilt. Hmm, I think I need a chicken wire fabric to go with these...

And speaking of kid's quilts, these are part of a scrap bundle I bought that features robots and flying machines. There are similar pieces in red. I think the plaid and camo coordinating fabrics are neat and unusual. Not a huge amount of each fabric, but I can fatten it up with pieces of Cool Weave and other fabrics from my stash.

And lastly, a bargain I simply could not resist. This is an older line of fabric, "Anything Goes," by Barbara Jones. There are 29 fat quarters, plus six larger pieces ranging from a half yard to a yard and a quarter; approximately 12 yards total. Lots of fresh, cool colors like peach and mint and gray, with bright pops of lime, orange and yellow. All the patterns are geometrics: polka dots, chevrons, squares and stripes. Ten bucks plus shipping! I have no idea when this fabric was produced, but I think this a fun, cheerful line that is rather timeless. Henry Glass fabrics have a wonderful hand and sew like a dream.

We drove to the boatyard today to check in, and it looks like we might be able to move back aboard on Thursday or Friday. I thought maybe I'd sneak a little sewing in while we were there, but with no air conditioning and no breeze, the boat was hotter than the hubs of Hades. I have a few more days of Jonesing for my Singer before I can make that Barbara Jones fabric sing.

Palmetto, FL

We are in a boat yard today, having some maintenance done. It's a dirty, dusty place. But I have two finishes to share, so I took photos in this less than lovely location.

I thought Bright Bento would look good against the white boat, but it's so far away that you can't really see much except the wash of colors. That's because I was standing on the ground, and the boat is "on the hard." That means it is out of the water and propped up on pieces of wood with the keel on the ground.

It's a loooong way up that rickety ladder near the back. It wobbled and swayed with every step I took. 

Here you can see the yard guys working underneath. I worried about the quilt falling down onto them. I think they were amused by it hanging above them, though.

Here it is, up closer. The flybridge was in half sun, half shade. Oh well, I'll try to get better photos after I wash it. It might be a week or so before that happens, though. Our fresh water supply is limited, so we have to carefully plan when we use the washing machine. 

Here is Charming Cupcakes, with the binding finished. It matches the kayak. It will also need to wait for it's trip through the washer and dryer. You can see more boat yard equipment in the background. That teal blue structure is the crane that lifted the boat out of the water. There's a short video of that on my Instagram feed.

If you can look up and past the yard, the view is lovely. This is the Manatee River behind the quilt. Hopefully, the boat will be splashed back into the river by the middle of next week. For now, though, we can only stay aboard during working hours and must leave in the evenings and for the weekend. I probably won't get much sewing done during this time unless the weather cools down. My sewing room sits mostly below the water line, and the river or ocean keeps it fairly cool. Out of the water and sitting in the hot sun, unable to run our air conditioners in the yard, it is hot hot hot down there!